JOSH Hazlewood led Australia’s pace attack with figures of 4-29 as India were bowled out for 150 by tea on the opening day of the first Test in Perth on Friday. The Australian bowlers capitalised on a fragile Indian batting lineup, taking six wickets in the second session.
India’s innings saw notable contributions from debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored 41, and Rishabh Pant, who added 37. Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh, and Pat Cummins supported Hazlewood, claiming two wickets each.
India, coming off a 3-0 series loss to New Zealand, made surprising changes to their XI, leaving out experienced players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Sarfaraz Khan. Regular skipper Rohit Sharma missed the match following the birth of his child, and Shubman Gill was unavailable due to injury.
After winning the toss, Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah opted to bat, but the team lost early wickets. Yashasvi Jaiswal departed for a duck in the third over, edging Mitchell Starc to debutant Nathan McSweeney at gully. Devdutt Padikkal, batting at number three in place of Gill, was dismissed for a duck after facing 23 balls, with Hazlewood inducing an edge to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Virat Kohli, under pressure to deliver a significant innings, managed just five runs before edging Hazlewood to Usman Khawaja at slip. KL Rahul contributed 26 before gloving a catch to Carey, leaving India struggling at 73-6 at lunch.
In the second session, Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar fell to Marsh, who filled the all-rounder role in the absence of Cameron Green. Pant and Reddy staged a brief recovery, with Pant hitting the match’s first six. However, the partnership ended when Pat Cummins dismissed Pant, caught by Steve Smith at slip.
Hazlewood wrapped up the innings, removing Harshit Rana and Bumrah in quick succession.
The series opener in Perth is the first of five matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with India aiming to defend the title they won during their last two tours of Australia.
(With inputs from AFP)
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